Twitter Teams Up With HootSuite To Sell Ads, Preferred Users Get $100 Credit

A lot has been written about Twitter’s latest developer guidelines, which outlines the types of third-party apps the company supports, and those it wants to eliminate.

Called out as being an example of an app the company approved of in its new guidelines was HootSuite, the enterprise-focused social media management tool. And now we know why: Twitter and HootSuite are teaming up to begin selling ads to 30,000 HootSuite Pro customers.
30,000 HootSuite Pro users will see a popup offer when they log in to the dashboard next, with $100 in free Twitter advertising credit offered if they spend it through HootSuite itself.

This is the first move that Twitter’s made to sell ads through a third party.

Here’s a quote that TechCrunch received from a Twitter spokesperson as well as an anonymous source:

“As with all of our advertising efforts, we are being thoughtful and deliberate in how we roll out self-serve to all kinds of small and local businesses,” she said. “We are testing out various ways to roll out this offering, including offers to Twitter users by companies like HootSuite.” TechCrunch understands from a source that this is the first signal that “a deeper partnership between the two may be in the works.”

One prominent Twitter user, Dave Larson tweeting @TweetSmarter, has already received his $100 HootSuite promotion and tested it out. In his detailed blog post, he explains that, while the $100 is nice, Twitter chooses which tweets to promote for you based on the level of engagement they receive organically, before becoming Promoted Tweets.

This, as Larson points out, is pretty counter-intuitive to most advertising, where the advertiser – not the medium – chooses what content to display, and actually prevented him from cashing in his $100 voucher.

Are you one of the lucky 30,000 to receive free Twitter advertising credit through HootSuite? How was your purchasing experience? Share your stories with us in the comments below.